Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

Chapter 20
has there Been a Space age?
Sylvia Kraemer
O ur conference opened with the observation by John Logsdon that how
one remembers the Space age depends mightily on who does the
remembering. I would add that how we remember the Space age today is also
likely to depend on one’s angle of repose, or that point in our shared history at
which we have acquired sufcient stability to pause and to refect on the relative
importance of striking features in the cultural and political/economic landscape
that surrounds us.
So I will begin with some observations that cause me to question whether
U.S. or global space activity since Sputnik warrants its characterization
as defning an “age.” Whether space has fostered globalization or increased
nationalism is part of this question. then I will comment on the ways in which
space activity has nonetheless left an indelible and lasting mark on our world.
When we refer to any development as defning an age of human history,
we imply that it has been a singular agent of historical change. the notion that
space activity is one such development may appeal to those who equate events
that receive extensive media attention with the things that are historically
important. and space activity has certainly helped to shape the careers of
millions of engineers, scientists, and managers in corporate america and within
the federal government and many of our universities. For these individuals
space activities have defned a substantial portion of their lives.
But space activity has some strong competition as a claimant to defning
our world. First, I would ofer the Cold War, in which space was an important
salient but not principal provocateur. that role of preeminence is held by
ideology—ours as well as that of the Soviet Union. No less important were the
post-World War II geopolitical changes wrought by the emergence of the United
States as the world’s dominant “superpower” and the regional realignments
in europe, the Middle east, and Southeast asia. as we know only too well,
those realignments have challenged our military, economic, and diplomatic
independence to an arguably unprecedented degree. I also think a strong case
can be made for the emergence, popularization, and ramifcations of digital
communications and information technologies as the defning phenomenon of
the “age” following the end of the Cold War.